An hour and a half of riveting testimony and vigorous committee debate resulted in stalemate for the tan ban last week. House Bill 1166, a bill to ban minors from tanning beds, got its first hearing before House Health and…
Posts published in February 2015
You'd think I'd spend an episode of Inside KELOLand cheering the Democrats and throwing shoes at the Republicans. But on last night's Inside KELOLand discussion with four South Dakota legislators, my Democratic friends left me as barefoot as the Republicans,…
On Inside KELOLand last night, Senator Scott Parsley (D-8/Madison) said that the Highway Needs and Financing Committee, of which he was a member, identified $240 million in road maintenance needs. The committee proposed tax increases to fund $101 million of…
If you think Kathy Tyler was naughty for taking the state job of Democratic House caucus secretary right after leaving her District 4 House seat (and Republicans certainly thought so), then what would you think of a sitting legislator taking…
The Student Federation, representing elected student governments from all of South Dakota's public universities, is seeing some success for the bills for which it lobbied during Higher Education Days last week. Senate Bill 91, funding for the Regental needs-based scholarship,…
During the Senate Judiciary hearing on Senate Bill 162 Thursday, Senator Brock Greenfield (R-2/Clark) said he had patterned his plan to arm certain legislators to play security guard after the 2013 school gunslinger bill. Then-Rep. Greenfield thought it was a…
Senator Jeff Monroe (R-24/Pierre) made crystal clear what all the guns bills in South Dakota's Legislature are really about. The Pierre Senator opened his commentary on Senate Bill 162, the Capitol gunslinger bill, with this statement: I can see both…
Senator Greenfield Calls Trooper Political Lackey South Dakota Highway Patrol Major Dana Svendsen testified against Senate Bill 162 Thursday. That bill was Senator Brock Greenfield's (R-2/Clark) attempt to allow certain trained legislators to carry weapons in the South Dakota Capitol…